Monday, Nov. 09, 2009

Let's talk: Author Jan Brett

Jan Brett, author and illustrator of more than two dozen children's books, is coming to Columbia Wednesday to promote the 20th anniversary of her book "The Mitten" and the new release of "Jan Brett's Snowy Treasury."

Brett is known for intricately detailed watercolor illustrations that grace her original stories and timeless folk tales, particularly from the Scandinavian countries. She and her husband, Joseph Hearne, a bassist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, will bring the Jan Brett tour bus to Barnes & Noble, 3400 Forest Drive, from 5 till 7 p.m. to share an art lesson on "The Mitten" and sign books.

Brett talked to us from her home in Massachusetts, where she raises chickens and has kept other animals, including a hedgehog or two. Brett's summer home in the Berkshires was recently featured in The New York Times.

First, talk about your chickens and why you began to raise them.

Brett: "It started with 'Hedgie's Surprise.' I needed chickens for my illustrations, so I went to the feed store and got some little chicks. Finally they got so tame they would just sit there and let me draw them.

"I have a least 50 chickens, and they all have names. ... They all ride in the car. They are used to it because I do a lot of exhibition poultry. We have driven to Florida with them."

What are you going to do when you come to Columbia?

Brett: "I am going to be making an art lesson, telling the children how to get started with their storytelling. I won't read from the book. I think their teachers and parents can read the book. This way I can tell them a little bit about the professional side. I can tell them all the steps, something I wish I had when I was little. The best part is when they bring me some of their artwork.

"Children love details. Emotionally they have so much they care about, and their emotions are so strong when they are children. They have so much emotion and vitality, and their language is just catching up with it."

From the time you started writing and illustrating children's books, have you noticed that children have changed? Are their attention spans longer or shorter?

Brett: "I think they are less able to rely on their own imaginations, something that has held me in good stead as I have gotten older. ...

"When I talk to children, I encourage them, just for the fun of it, to turn off the television and radio, go somewhere by yourself and put a piece of paper in front of you. You might find a little voice inside of you. ... I want to encourage them to do that, and it is awfully hard to do that when there is go much noise around."

What do you do to encourage your grandchildren's imaginations?

Brett: "We don't have a TV, for starters, but I love taking them out in the woods, where there is a lot of wildlife. They love going out in the woods, and I tell them if you hear any noises, we have to make sure that it's not a mother bear.

"We go down to the dock and we throw stones for hours. ... I always try to have a batch of chicks when they come."

Do you have a favorite book?

Brett: "It's always the one I'm working on. It's the promise of something better, that maybe this one will be the best of all.

"It's really more about creating this world on my own and hoping kids like it. ... It really comes from within me. That's the thing I like to do, and I like to encourage children to find out what's in them. Their creative footprint is so different than anyone else's. If they don't write that story or paint that picture then it won't exist."

- Carolyn Click

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